In this short vlog (filmed on the 16th of March), Tim Field discusses using a Woodland Trust grant to plant 800 trees on a 30 acre field which currently comprises of established chicken ranges at Daylesford Organic Farm.

The aim of this planting is to:

Provide shelter for chickens;

Encourage further ranging of chickens and utilise available pasture land;

Create:

fruit orchards and associated business opportunities

diverse shelterbelts

food for pollinators

food for birds

woodchip for the biomass boiler

woodchip for chicken bedding and scratching

mulch for trees

material for the floristry operation

Alder will help fix nitrogen in the soil.

The planting will help fulfill the Soil Association criteria for trees within the range.

There are further potential benefits from intercropping market garden vegetables eg the kale will benefit from the presence of the chickens through improved soil fertility and clean ground. In the second year, kale will provide a flowering cover crop for the chickens and pollinators.

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